FIELD TWP— The Ely girls basketball team solidified its position for an opening home sectional tournament game with a convincing 76-55 road win against rival North Woods.
The Timberwolves never trailed, jumping out to a 6-0 lead and using a 12-2 run minutes later to go up 22-10, punctuated with a three-ball by Madison Rohr.
Harassing North Woods ball handlers and shooters with tenacious full-court pressure, the Wolves led 33-20 when Grizzlies Head Coach Liz Cheney called a timeout to regroup with six minutes left in the half.
The move was a momentum changer, as Ely’s shooting touch disappeared in a 13-2 Grizzlies run led by Hannah Kinsey and Tatum Barto that put North Woods right back in the game, trailing by only two at the half, 35-33.
Sarah Visser got the Wolves back on track with a three-pointer to open the second stanza, and Ely quickly went up 44-33 on six unanswered points by Madeline Kallberg. After the Grizzlies closed the gap to seven, Kallberg drained a trey and a two and Visser connected on another trifecta to put the Wolves up by 15, 52-37. With just under six minutes to go, a three-pointer by the Grizzlies’ Talise Goodsky got North Woods to within 62-52, but the Wolves turned on the jets with a 14-3 blitz to close out the game and the win.
“We’ve been waiting to win a game sort of like this, where we came in and took care of business,” Ely Head Coach Max Gantt said. “When we didn’t turn over the ball and took care of it we got what we wanted on offense. Sarah Visser played really well tonight. She knocked down a couple three pointers, which is something she’s been adding to her game. Madeline Perry’s a constant with the speed she plays at on the offensive end, and Madeline Kallberg played really well also, just picking off a lot of passes on defense and then getting easy transition points to get us a lead.”
Coming off one of the Grizzlies’ best games of the season, a 70-62 road win at Greenway, the home court loss was doubly tough for Cheney because of its implications for tournament seeding.
“It was a game that we needed to set ourselves higher than we are in the section, and we came up short,” Cheney said. “Coming out in the second half is one of our issues. At Greenway, we came out and hit three three-pointers in a row, and that was the game changer. Here, we just came out flat again, still passed the ball the way we’re not supposed to (to give up turnovers).”
Gantt echoed Cheney in giving Ely’s defense credit for the Grizzlies’ offensive woes.
“Our man defense from the beginning of the year has really improved,” Gantt said. “We switch a lot of screens, which means you’re going to have to work really hard because you might be undersized in some matchups, but we do it well. The defense has been really nice.”
Cheney found a bright spot, however, in the play of Hannah Kinsey, who led the Grizzlies with 20 points.
“She has really stepped into her leadership role on the floor,” Cheney said. “That’s not something I’ve seen from her until recently. Her play has been more passion-filled, and her court awareness has come full circle. And she was on tonight on the basket making moves and shooting. She’s really, really coming along.”
Ely’s Madeline Perry was the game’s leading scorer with 24 points, 16 in the second half. The Wolves also picked up 15 points each from Grace LaTourell and Sarah Visser and 11 from Madison Rohr. Other Grizzlies who scored in double digits included Talise Goodsky with 12 and Hannah Cheney with 10.
With two regular season games remaining after last week’s win, Ely stood sixth in the Section 7A standings and was a virtual lock for a first-round home game. North Woods was right behind in seventh position and would have to slip to ninth to open the sectional tourney on the road.
The bottom four seeds will begin postseason tourney action on Monday, with a full slate of eight games on tap for March 2 to narrow the field to eight. All of those games will be played on the home court of the higher-seeded team. The Section 7A semifinals on March 9 and final on March 11 will be played in Duluth. Check timberjay.com and the Timberjay’s Facebook page for the sectional bracket, game times and updated results.